by Robert Klemko, USA TODAY Sports

by Robert Klemko, USA TODAY Sports

NEW YORK -- On Wednesday, Geno Smith boasted he'd be wearing a suit the color of West Virginia University blue when he attended the first round of the NFL Draft Thursday in New York.

He didn't have a plan for Day 2, so after NFL decision-makers passed on the former Mountaineers quarterback on Thursday, Smith's mom did some shopping and landed a yellow sweater resembling WVU gold for the second round.

After being passed over in the first round and being left waiting in the green room, the West Virginia quarterback won't have to go far to reach his new NFL home: The New York Jets mercifully took Smith 39th overall, presumably to compete for a starting job with 2008 first-round pick Mark Sanchez and veteran David Garrard.

Upon receiving a call from Jets general manager John Idzik, Smith hugged his weeping mother, whose birthday was Thursday, and appeared on stage at the Radio City Music Hall without a smile on his face.

"It's not that I don't smile. I just kind of take that to heart, the things that happened yesterday," he said. "But I'm not going to sit here and say its something I'll use as fuel or extra motivation, because I'm already motivated.

"Just being in this position is a blessing. I'm going to smile as much as I can, but at the same time remember all the things that happened."

Notoriously disapproving Jets fans in attendance at Radio City Music Hall cheered the selection, but the pick is confounding: It now gives the Jets six quarterbacks on the roster -- Sanchez, Garrard, Tim Tebow, Greg McElroy and Matt Simms - and now Smith.

Head coach Rex Ryan has said that although Sanchez, who will make $8.25 million this season, is the starter heading into camp, there will be competition. Now, apparently, lots of competition.

"I have a lot of family, a lot of people who stand behind me and have supported me my entire career," Smith said. "I just wanted to stand here and represent all of them on this stage today. I'm ready to compete, I'm ready to go in there and win a starting job."

And what did he want to say to the hooting Jets fans, who were equal parts stunned and delirious?

"Oh, yeah, man. We're coming in, man. I'm proud to be a Jet and we're going to the playoffs next year," Smith said.

Later, the Jets completed a trade for running back Chris Ivory, shipping a 2013 fourth-round pick to the New Orleans Saints. The Jets are expected to sign Ivory to a long-term contract.

Smith considered leaving New York after going undrafted in Thursday's first round, but sometime between Thursday night and Friday morning, he decided to stay. Maybe he was tipped off, or perhaps he heeded the advice of Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers, who tweeted this encouragement to Smith last night:

"Hang in there Geno, 'good things come to those who wait' - Paul Tagliabue." It was a reference to what the commissioner told Rodgers when he was finally selected.

Rodgers was projected at the top of the first round in 2005, and waited until the 24th pick to hear his name called. On Friday, the Packers made him the highest-paid player in NFL history with a five-year contract extension worth a total of $110 million, with $40 million to be paid in the first year, a person with knowledge of the contract told USA TODAY Sports.

The person spoke on the condition of anonymity because terms of the deal were not to be announced.

Smith remembers watching that 2005 draft as a 14-year-old attending Miramar High School in Florida, and feeling for Rodgers in the green room.

"It was kind of ironic that you see that and then you're put in that position," he said. "All of those guys that were picked ahead of me were deserving, so there's no bitterness there for those guys or any of those teams."

Smith was rated by most pundits as the top quarterback in a weak class of passers going into the draft, but the Buffalo Bills instead drafted E.J. Manuel of Florida State 16th overall, marking the first time only one quarterback was taken in the first round since 2001, when Michael Vick went No. 1 to the Atlanta Falcons.

Smith threw for 11,662 yards, 98 touchdowns and only 21 interceptions in four years at West Virginia. The Miami native had dinner with new Jets offensive coordinator Marty Mornhinweg before the draft, and Mornhinweg reportedly raved about Smith to Rex Ryan and Idzik.

Mornhinweg runs a West Coast offense, in contrast with the spread concepts Smith practiced in West Virginia, but the rookie on Friday insisted his skill set "translates to all offenses."

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